More testing of my ability to cope

You can probably guess by now that when days go by without a post from me, it is not a good sign.

Here's a litany of the past several days:

Family room and bedroom furniture arrived. Couch (a floor model and we knew it) had more damage than we would've liked including some disconcerting black stains on the back. One swivel chair has stitching on one seam coming out. The second chair has some of the ticking showing if you lift the cushion on the arm.

We found a few scratches on some of the bedroom pieces, but generally they were acceptable until ...

We discovered that each nightstand had lights underneath. Very cute. Just by touching them you could cycle through dim, medium, high and off settings. Frankly, we didn't even realize they had that feature. (And neither did the saleswoman, I should say.) We plugged 'em in, turned them on, liked them, and turned them off. A few minutes later, I come back into the room and they're on again. I figured Wife liked looking at them, but I wanted to save electricity, so I turned them off. A few minutes later I'm back in and they're back on. I stand there and stare for a few seconds, now they're off. A few more seconds, on - dim. A few more, on - medium. And then on - high before turning themselves off and starting the cycle again.

The saleswoman is actually at the house (more on that in a minute) so I ask, "What's the deal?"

She says, "Oh, just unplug them."

I say, "Wait a minute, I paid for these and they're supposed to work."

"Oh, well, I don't know ... "

So why is the saleswoman there? Because she and two of her minions brought four oriental rugs for us to see with the newly delivered furniture. The deal was that she would bring rugs in about our price range and we could choose. The first was way too red and it was easy to say "no". I'd liked it in the store but not on the floor. The next was really good. It looked completely different depending on which side of the room you were standing. It was the one the saleswoman originally picked for us when we were in the store. The third one was even better -- a bolder design, but looked fabulous in the room. The fourth one, not so good. Less traditional. We were ready to pull the trigger on the third one.

I ask, "How much?"

Rug seller (one of the minions) says a number that is more than double what we thought we were going to pay. I just blink.

Wife, quite appropriately, goes off on them saying, "You told me you were bringing carpets the same cost as the ones we looked at in the store."

"Oh, well these are bigger: 10x14, not 9x12."

"Why'd you do that?"

"Better for the room."

"Not if it is twice the budget. How much is it for 9x12?"

Cellphone calls and much punching of calculator buttons ensues. In about 10 minutes guy quotes a price still $1000 more than we'd agreed.

Bob is at the limit: "Sorry to waste your time. Pack this stuff up and get out of here. I told you we were over our budget just in buying your furniture. Out."

Response: "But such high quality ... highly discounted ... can't get elsewhere."

Rebuttal: "What part of 'get out' was unclear to you?"

Oh, yes and one more thing: the swivel chairs that we are unhappy about were floor models. Saleswoman says, "Oh we sell off the floor all the time. I never promised they'd come from warehouse."

Wife and I both say, "Oh, yes you did. The only thing that was not to come from the warehouse was the couch."

"Oh, no ..."

"... Oh, yes", we say

"... and your sales receipt clearly says 'all sales final, no returns'", she says.

We continue the battle with this, quite expensive I should tell you, store. I'm not giving the store's name, but when we get this resolved, or as resolved as we can get it, I'll publish the name and encourage everyone to avoid the place like the plague.

Continuing --

We also pulled the trigger on a new mattress and box spring - Simmons Beautyrest -- on sale -- a good deal, we think. Mattress looks good on the surface. Lots going on at the house; Wife's busy; she signs; delivery people leave. With more time she starts looking and finds loose threads on lots of the seams -- threads that just weren't cut off. But, also finds seams that are pulling out already. Only cosmetic, it appears, but still: we paid nearly $2000 for the set. She calls 'em back on the number delivery people gave. They say, "Sorry you signed for it." She calls the store and speaks to someone (our salesman's not there). The guy says he'll call the warehouse.

Long story longer: They agree to deliver new mattress after Wife threatens bodily injury to them if they don't. Delivery people show up one day late. Delivery man looks at mattress and says, "You don't want it." I'll bring you another." He goes away. He comes back a couple days later. Starts to unload, then says, "Worse than the other one." Goes away. Fourth try is supposed to be today. We'll see.

Lesson learned: when people deliver product, give them a cup of coffee and sit them down. Tell them they're going to be there for 30 minutes. Go thoroughly over every inch of the product. Have a cup of coffee yourself, then go over it again. Only then sign the papers.

And, oh, yes, Wife found broken tiles on roof during a cursory inspection she makes from a ladder. Calls warranty people. They come out and find as many as 25 tiles broken, saying that it looks like storm damage from Hurricane Ike. Why didn't our inspector find the damage? I don't know. We're in negotiations with warranty company on who's going to pay for replacing the tiles. Tiles are not part of warranty -- only leaks are. Grrrr.

Final straw: I go to fill up the car with gasoline yesterday and my card is denied ... my EMPLOYEE card is denied. I find out today that my bank didn't make my last payment like they were supposed to.

If this is a test, I'm on the border of not passing.